So you have packed your bags, they are in the cargo hold, and you are 30,000 feet over the glistening ocean, and you start thinking…did I pack the [fill in the blank]? Suddenly you get that big hole in your stomach and you know that you didn’t hit an air pocket. It’s an “oh crap” moment.
Let’s face it, I have it pretty easy. With a family of 5, my wife handles all of the packing for 4 of the 5 family members, not that we go on many trips. Most of these are road trips so we have the luxury of over-packing the minivan and taking almost every conceivable item possible. My wife is good at packing, really good. The kids have all their items carefully itemized and packed into their individual bags.
I’m usually on my own when it comes to packing so I have no one else to blame. What’s my task aside from organizing my own bags? Well, I’m also tasked with packing all of the technology items, mainly because I’m the gadget addict of our family. I would expect the other members of my family could survive without the “tech”, but I can’t. So when it comes to a road trip, I have a big bag dedicated to all of the battery powered or electronic devices.
When it comes to a plane trip, however, and the fact that you have to pack light or get charged for extra bags, my tech packing becomes strained and a monumental task…that of picking and choosing just the essential devices to bring.
I’m not going to bore you with the crazy events leading up to going on a trip like packing toothpaste or clean underwear. And you can usually buy sunscreen at your destination. What I am talking about is the assembling of the special luggage that contains:
- power cords
- batteries
- camcorder
- cables
- camera
- chargers
- headphones
- wifi devices (I have a travel wifi router)
- portable DVD player
- portable gaming devices
- iPod
Oh, and of course, my life-blood, my laptop. I mean, how could I even think about going on a trip without taking my connection to the world. Who knows when I might want (need) to check my email, read some blogs, record a movie of my family on the beach, send a tweet, post photos to Facebook, check in to Foursquare (hey robbers, I’m not actually on a sunny, tropical island somewhere, I’m really sitting in the dark by the front door with a shotgun in my hand just waiting for you – KIDDING!), write a blog post, listen to some music or a podcast, take a bunch of photos, watch a movie, play a game or just surf the web! And, gasp, what if I were to actually “lose the laptop” on the trip!!! I would be crippled.
Ok I really did a good segue there didn’t I! Wouldn’t it be great to be able to pack much if not all of the functionality listed above into a much much smaller bag and device? I’m thinking that the HTC Tilt 2 can do it! Here’s why:
- Email – use the native Outlook app which is part of the Windows Mobile 6.5 professional
- Internet Explorer – yep, you can read a bunch of blogs in portrait or landscape format
- Opera – but wait, there’s more, you also get the super optimized Opera browser
- Twitter – er…well, I hate to say it, there really isn’t a “killer” Twitter app yet for Windows Mobile (hint hint, hey WinMo developers, there is a HUGE opportunity here, especially with Windows Phone 7 around the corner) but I did find a few Twitter apps that I can use.
- Facebook – the Facebook app is actually not to shabby either…and you can do something that you can’t do on the iPhone (for example), upload videos to Facebook, now THAT you need to be able to make all of your friends jealous!
- Foursquare – hmmm, need to check that…yep, looks like there is a beta app
- Blogging – well there are lots of ways that I can do that, using Pocket Word 2010, for example or Evernote
- Music – you wouldn’t believe how many mp3 files you can put on an 8 GB microSD so no need for an iPod
- Photos – the Tilt 2 comes with a 3.2 Megapixel camera
- Movies – if you shrink down your movies, you can put those on the Tilt 2 as well, and you can film some family movies too!
- Gaming – the Windows Marketplace has a bunch of games – load up on a few before before you hit the road, or just download them over the air
That means that with one gadget, you can leave a bunch of other ones at home. Packing light is key, packing smart, or for example, packing a Smart Phone is critical. I’m throwing my HTC Tilt 2 in the bag first, to be sure not to forget it!
NOTE: this is the FULL article of the one that appears on the “Lose the Laptop” site. Please be sure to vote for me!
Oh, and I do have some travel adventures planned for April so be sure to ride along!
Disclosure Text : I have a material connection because I received a gift or sample of a product for consideration in preparing to write this content. I was/am not expected to return this item or gift after my review period. More information can be found in my About page as well as here. More information about the “Lose the Laptop” program is available here.
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